1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to real-time information retrieval and submission technologies and in particular to a system and method for initiating and conducting real-time surveys on a computer network between at least two client computers.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of the Internet as a generalized communication medium has become increasingly popular over the years. As the Internet is expanded in its capabilities and surges in popularity it is manifesting itself in nontraditional ways, the scope of which had never been fully anticipated. In particular, with the exponential rise in the number of Internet users, real-time Web based interaction, such as that seen in Internet “Chat,” has emerged as an amazingly popular and persuasive mode of communication.
On the Internet, the term “chatting” is used to refer to the act of “talking” to other people who are using the Internet at the same time. “Chatting” involves the broadcast, multicast, or unicast of messages typed in real-time, and the use of sound and graphics in real-time, amongst a group of users occupying the same space (i.e., connected to the same server or related group of servers) on a local net-work computer or a global net-work computer accessing an Internet. A chat may be an ongoing or scheduled session on an Internet site (the “chat site”) which serves as a common repository for all messages whereby the users may enter and leave the chat site at will. In the context of Internet chats, the users of the chat sites may themselves be situated in different geographical locales and may be connected using any number of different client programs, browsers, or Internet service providers (“ISP”).
Often, chats are focused on a particular topic or theme, whereby a given chat-site may be a host to multiple chats, each corresponding to a different theme yet taking place at the same time in different “chat rooms,” which are essentially specialized sub-domains within the broader chat-site. Hence, participants within the same chat-room generally share a common interest or concern which brings them together. Currently, most chat activity appears to be informal and recreational; however, specialized channels where professionals exchange valuable opinions and engage in constructive dialogues are becoming increasingly prevalent.
In the context of the Internet, surveys are also becoming increasingly popular. Surveys are an important part of today's marketing work. In conducting surveys, the essential goal is to find out more about consumers likes and dislikes, and their opinions about specific topics. Typically, surveys are performed by marketing companies which often spend large portions of their budgets on initiating and conducting surveys. Conventional surveys may be performed by telephone, mail, e-mail, or using the Internet whereby the surveys are initiated and conducted at a first point in time, then subsequently submitted to a survey participant at a later point in time, and still subsequently completed by the survey participant at an even further point in time. Still further in time, the survey answers are then retrieved and analyzed by the surveyor. However, as a result of conventional surveys being received by the surveyor at a time later than the submission and answering of the survey query, the survey results are often outdated or archaic as the opinions of those polled survey participants may have changed over time. Another problem with such conventional surveys is that processing the data obtained from conventional surveys is often expensive, time consuming, difficult, and requires increased manual labor and resources.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a system and method which can easily, affordably, and quickly conduct surveys and analyze the results of such surveys to provide current, accurate survey results.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for conducting surveys having accurate, up-to-date survey results for retrieval by surveyors.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and method for producing quick and comprehensive survey results.
A further object of the invention is to provide a system and method for easily initiating, conducting and managing surveys in real-time.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system and method for easily initiating, conducting and managing dynamic surveys.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system and method for initiating and conducting surveys in real-time at reduced costs and resources.
Another object of the present invention to provide a system and method for initiating and conducting a variety of surveys simultaneously having accurate, up-to-date survey results.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.